The Great Albums

Two indie rock musicians, Bill Lambusta and Brian Erickson, dive into the fandom of great rock and pop music and how it connects to their lives through the lens of the medium they care for most, the album. Episodes frequently include guest contributions from musicians, podcasters, and journalists and always culminate in a track by track review.

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Joining Brian and Bill to discuss Sam Cooke's landmark and influential Night Beat (1963, RCA) is Randy W. Hall, cohost of our podcast kin That Dandy Classic Music Hour (thatdandyclassicmusichour.com). Night Beat found Sam Cooke enjoying the benefits of his restructured contract, exercising his right to choose his own backing band, go into a studio, show off his skills as the father of soul, and put together one of the first purposely crafted albums. Randy talks about playing hooky from school and heading to his local record shop to discover the reissue of Night Beat on the shelf and then just being blown away when he put it on in his car. Bill, Brian, and Randy discuss the birth of soul, Motown vs. Stax, Cooke's conversational style, Sam's voice being out front, Dylan covering "Freebird," Barney Kessel's excellent guitar work, Billy Preston's excellent organ interplay with Ray Johnson's piano, the unfortunate circumstances of Sam Cooke's death, and more as we make our way through the album track by track!